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Practices of Looking- Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright
Abstract: This chapter, which was written by Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright, examines the idea of postmodernism in comparison to modernism. The authors argue that postmodernism and modernism intersect one another, and that there is no clear line between when modernism ended and postmodernism began. Postmodernism is described as a rejection of the idea of modernism and its idea of "one truth". Instead, postmodernism rejects the idea of one truth in favor of their being many truths. Essentially, the author's argue that postmodernism's goal is to put all of the cultural assumptions that a person has and put them under scrutiny. The authors then give examples of how postmodernism accomplishes this, and gives examples of postmodernism in advertising. Key Concepts: The authors begin by comparing the differences between modernism and postmodernism. They describe modernism as being "characterized by a sense of knowing that was forward-looking and positive, and believing one could know what was true and real as well as what was for the best in a given society" (251). Modernism is then attributed to a belief in "one truth". On the other hand, the authors say, "one could say that postmodernism's central goal is to put all assumptions under scrutiny in order to reveals the values that underlie all systems of thought, and thus to question the ideologies within them that are seen as natural" (252). Postmodernism, unlike modernism, is meant to show that there is more than one universal truth, and it seeks to emphasize the plurality of cultural ideologies, as opposed to limiting ideologies to one interpretation. The authors then delve into a further explanation of postmodernism and how it accomplishes the deconstruction of assumptions and ideologies that people have. One of the ways in which postmodernism achieves this is by emphasizing the key ideas of reflexivity, irony, and parody. Reflexivity is the notion of making the viewer aware that they are looking at something that is deconstructed. Thia can take on the form of intertextuality, irony, or parody. The authors then give examples from real-life about how postmodernism has been used in advertising, such as the 1992 Kenneth Cole Ad. Examples: Sturken and Cartwright also talk about how powerful images are. In their writing, they mentioned how, “The power of the image derives not only from its status as photographic evidence but from its powerful evocation of the emotions of life’s struggles. It thus demonstrates the photograph's capacity both to present evidence and to evoke a magical or mythical truth.”(19) They also mentioned that “The technology of images is thus central to our experience of visual culture.”(12) Here are some iconic images they showed that are pivotal in shaping people’s visual culture: O.J. Simpson Tiananmen Square The Great Depression Resources and Further Reading: Featherstone, Mike. Consumer culture and postmodernism. Sage, 2007. This book examines postmodernism within different mediums such as literature, film, and music. In partcular, Featherstone examines postmodernism and its affect on consumer culture, such as the expansion of capitalist commodity production. Jameson, Fredric. "Postmodernism, or the cultural logic of late capitalism." Studies 29 (1984): 54. Jameson argues that there has been a trend in which premonitions of the future have been replaced by thinking that this will be the end of so-and-so, such as ideology, art, social class, etc. Jameson examines this pattern in terms of postmodernism. Said, Edward W. Culture and imperialism. Random House LLC, 1993. In this book, Said examines postmodernism in terms of imperialism and race theory. Said is one of the most prominent figures within the Post-colonial and postmodern theorists. Nicholson, Linda, ed. Feminism/postmodernism. Routledge, 2013. This book examines the issue of feminism and postmodernism. Specifically, this book examines various theorists such as Foucault, adn the impact that a postmodernist reading has on politics, space, and theory with feminism. Huyssen, Andreas. After the great divide: Modernism, mass culture, postmodernism. Vol. 399. Indiana University Press, 1986. This article examines the impact of high art and mass culture and the impact of moderismm and postmodernism. Keywords: ideology modernism irony parody reflexivity Citations: Sturken, Marita and Cartwright, Lisa. Practices of Looking:An Introduction to Visual Culture. 2001. 236-277.